Young people disciple training
One2Lead is Counties’ training programme for young people aged 16 to their twenties. Over two years, across six weekends, participants engage in practical and interactive theology, personal development, and ministry formation seminars. Jess was there at the very start, attending the first-ever One2Lead weekend back in 2009.
A gap year, a closed door, and a call to stay
By the time she got involved with One2Lead, Jess was on a gap year trying to figure out where God was leading her. Jess became a Christian just before she turned 13, and all she knew was that she wanted to give her gap year to God.
Initially, this led her on mission overseas with Operation Mobilization – an experience she describes as deeply formative. After three months abroad, she returned stirred, sensing that God wasn’t finished with her. She began pushing on doors to return overseas – but each one remained firmly shut.
It was in that season of closed doors that something shifted. “Going and staying are both a calling from the Lord,” she reflects. “A no to going can mean an active call to stay.” Rather than disappointment, it became clarification – an invitation to ask what faithful discipleship looked like right here, in the UK.
After hearing Counties evangelist Phil Davies and Counties CEO Martin Erwin speak about Counties’ new programme for young people, joining One2Lead seemed like the natural next step. “If I’m staying, then I need to be wholly committed to building God’s Kingdom in the local church. One2Lead was a way to be resourced and explore that opportunity.”
Jess went along to the very first One2Lead weekend in March 2009 with two friends from church. This first cohort was tiny – just five people, including Jess – but what struck her most was the intentionality behind it all. “I remember the sense of unity and togetherness, the way Martin and the team poured into us. There was real intention and purpose.”
A lesson to remember
Although it has been more than 15 years since her One2Lead experience ended, Jess still has her folder of notes from the programme. Flicking through, she was struck by her notes from one session on personal vision and mission, where participants were asked to articulate what they hoped for the church. Jess wrote down three words: joyful, united, worshipful.
These three values have remained close to her heart ever since – and she feels they are the key values of the organisation she now works for. She credits One2Lead with helping her identify the passions and convictions that shaped her into the person she is today. Alongside these important lessons, Jess of course also remembers the friendships – going highroping, snorkelling in the swimming pool, and cruising Cardiff Bay by speedboat!
Bearing fruit
After university, Jess worked for a Christian publishing ministry and led youth ministry at a new church plant – a role she still holds eight years later. After the publishing ministry closed, she pursued a Bible handling and teaching course before pushing doors again towards ministry as her main focus. When a pastor pointed her towards a position at Living Leadership, Jess knew this was where God was leading her – a role drawing on exactly the skills she had spent years developing, and embodying the values she had written down as a teenager at One2Lead. Living Leadership exists to support Christian leaders and their spouses to live and serve joyfully and faithfully for the long haul. As Jess says: “Joyful, worshipful leaders model and encourage joyful, worshipful faith in their churches and communities.”
A great place to start
When Jess looks back at the 19-year-old who walked into that first One2Lead weekend, she is quite amazed. “I don’t think she had any vision of what life with Jesus could really look like! She wouldn’t have imagined this!”
For anyone considering One2Lead today, her advice is simple: “Do the thing other people might find weird!” She points to Colossians 1:9–11, and Paul’s prayer that believers would grow in the knowledge of God’s will, in wisdom and understanding, bearing fruit in every good work. “One2Lead is an avenue the Lord can use to do this. It’s a great place to start!”
To find out more about One2Lead, visit: countiesuk.org/one2lead